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Hot Version just released this video of a test and tune session of Keiichi Tsuchiya’s personal AE86 which is used as the 200 horsepower class Touge Monster on Hot Version’s Touge Challenge series. The car used to be tuned exclusively by Sakurai-san of Toyota Racing Development who unfortunately passed away recently. Now Tec-Arts has taken over working on the car. They have plenty of experience from regularly campaigning a successful car in the revived AE86 N2 racing series. Tsuchiya-san wanted more displacement so they built him a 20v 7AG using a 7AG crank, custom rods and AE101 silvertop pistons. They also sourced some custom camshafts after discovering Sakurai-san had been making power on the stock cams. The first three minutes of this video is from the Tec-Arts shop during the tear-down:

Between S-Tires and added engine power, Tsuchiya-san was able to set an outright sector time record on the Gunsai Touge beating out cars like the Amuse S2000 and the RE Amemiya FD RX-7. It’s about time I got my AE86 back on the road.

Hoon TV brings us coverage from the AE86 Matsuri held at Tsukuba Circuit. They get a really good look at some of the cars in the revived N2 series including those from SS Works and Crystal Body Yokohama. Toyota is planning a one-make series for the GT-86, but I’d be curious to see how feasible it would be to race the new cars alongside the N2 AE86’s. The event took place alongside the Initial D festival that celebrated release of the fifth stage of that anime.

Seamus Connelly and Gary McCrudden just received the Flyin’ Finn Motorsports Entertainers of the Year for 2012 based on their efforts to rally a Levin AE86 in Ireland. Here is a 14 minute year in review with in-car and bystander footage of their campaign. They definitely look like they’re having a ton of fun out there. One of the hairy saves has a big of *NSFW* language.

The HachiRock Festival is a celebration of the AE86 “Hachi-Roku” (Corolla GT-S sport RWD here in the US) that takes place every September in Japan. The AE86 is the spiritual successor of the Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ / Toyota GT-86 (it’s where the 86 part of the name comes from). Originally built in the mid 80’s, the AE86 is a lightweight, low power, bare bones driving essentials car. It is difficult to drive fast; but if you can be fast in an AE86, you can be fast in anything. The car’s honest traits have garnered it a cult following around the world, especially in Japan. The HachiRock Festival is one of the annual events where owners and enthusiasts can get together to look at each other’s cars, swap parts and keep up with the latest trends in tuning. The JyuRoku blog put together this video coverage of the event:

Here’s some leftover footage from this year’s 86 Day at Fuji Speedway by the same guy who brought us the Pit Walk video. 86 Day is observed every year on August 6th to celebrate the history of the Toyota AE86, a lightweight, rear wheel drive enthusiast car of legendary status in Japan. This year was a little different because the AE86’s were joined by the Toyota GT-86’s for the first time (that’s what the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ are called outside of the US). About 150 cars participated in the parade led by The Drift King, Keiichi Tsuchiya.